


Syncopation

by imustbecrazies



Category: Little Mix (Band), One Direction (Band)
Genre: Alternate Universe - High School, Fluff, M/M, Musicals, this story is ridiculous
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2013-01-22
Updated: 2013-01-22
Packaged: 2017-11-26 11:06:41
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,902
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/649869
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/imustbecrazies/pseuds/imustbecrazies
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>
  <i>Which is how Niall ends up meeting the love of his life wearing nothing but a woman’s blouse (“Nobody can tell the difference!” Emma insisted) and a pair of boxer briefs. </i>
</p><p> </p><p>Alternatively: Niall's in a musical and falls for one of the crew members.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Syncopation

**Author's Note:**

> I don't even know what to say about this one… This story is just totally ridiculous and FLUFF, FLUFF, FLUFF! I really have no good answer as to why Perrie and Jade ended up in this nor can I explain why Louis is directing and Harry is acting ('cause good lord we all know the boy can't). I apologize for any mistakes and as usual, this is not brit-picked. Also, this is all fake.

When Niall sees him for the first time he nearly falls off the stage, which should be funny but Louis lost his sense of humor about two weeks ago. “Niall!” Louis sounds so genuinely distressed that Niall feels kind of bad even though it was an accident. “What the hell are you doing? Are you trying to ruin my show??” Niall wants to roll his eyes and tell Louis where he can shove his show but everyone (including the cute boy who made him trip in the first place) is staring.

He settles on shrugging sheepishly and muttering, “Sorry Lou.” 

Louis all but screams, “Get off the stage!!!” 

Niall hastily retreats into the wings where a giggling Harry meets him. “Oh shove off.” He grumbles uncharitably. 

“Sorry,” Harry says, sounding anything but. He’s standing as close to the stage as he can, even going so far as to pull the curtain back to stare at Louis with these big hearts in his eyes. 

“Harry!” Louis isn’t even looking at them but it’s like his Harry-senses are tingling. “I can see your curls in my peripherals!” Harry stifles a giggle, dropping the curtain and stepping further into the wings. 

Niall just shakes his head, “How do you deal with him when he’s like this?” 

Harry shrugs and wiggles his eyebrows suggestively, “I like when he’s flustered.” 

“Um ew.” 

“We fuck like crazy when he’s stressed.”

“EW.” Niall says again, this time slapping his hands over his ears to show how much he really doesn’t want to be having this conversation. Harry just grins somewhat evilly because he really is a dirty pervert underneath all that charm and grabs something from the prop table for his scene. Niall should be changing into his next costume but there’s that boy again. He’s holding a can of paint and talking to Liam. “Hey who is that?”

“Who?” Harry asks clearly more focused on Louis than the beautiful boy with the eyelashes for days and cheekbones that could cut glass. 

“Him,” Niall nods, “The one talking to Liam.” 

“Hmmm no idea. Never seen him before. He’s kind of gorgeous though isn’t he?” 

“Er yea, sort of. I m-mean if you’re into that- or ya know-“

Harry turns to Niall with an amused expression, “Does someone have a little crush?” 

“W-what?! No! I’ve never even- I mean- no, no, no-“

A anxious looking girl appears at Harry's side, waving her hand to get his attention. “Uh Harry-“

“Not now,” He says, brushing off the petite stagehand. She bites her lip and rocks nervously on the balls of her feet. “Go on Niall, go ask his name-“

“Harry, that’s your-“

“Not now!” He glares at the girl who manages not to shrink under his angry kitten glower.

“But your-“

“HARRY?!?!” Louis’s shrill cry finally pulls Harry’s attention from Niall.

“Fuck! What happened?”

The stagehand squeaks out, “That was your cue.” 

“Oh shit, fuck! Niall look what you did!” Harry glares and runs out onto the stage, apologies spilling from his lips. Niall figures he really should change before he too misses a cue and Louis’s head explodes. This fucking musical is going to be the death of them.

***

Niall isn’t really sure why he’s doing this musical in the first place. It might have started like this: 

Niall joined the Gay Straight Alliance about a year ago after he saw this really cute brunette putting up fliers for the club. It takes all of about 10 minutes into the first meeting for Niall to realize that Liam (and his very pretty girlfriend) fall into the straight category of the club but that’s okay because everyone is really nice and Niall’s never had gay friends before. Harry is technically the president of the GSA but he lets Louis do most of the speaking mostly because Louis likes to. The two of them are nauseatingly cute together. 

Fast forward to the present, where Louis is applying to his dream school and convinced the head of said school’s drama department to attend the musical he’s directing. He picks something totally obscure where everyone wears old-fashiony clothes and speaks in barely understandable English and there’s far more singing than talking. Of course Harry is cast as the lead (he’s got the voice of an angel to match that cherub face of his) and Niall winds up with these incredibly itchy britches. Liam some how wiggled his way out of actually performing by agreeing to oversee the production of the show but even Niall, standing there trying not to itch his balls, can’t bring himself to begrudge Liam because this show would literally fall apart without him.

So yea, maybe it’s not actually such a mystery how Niall ended up here at all. 

***

They meet under rather mortifying circumstances. 

Well mortifying for Niall probably just a bit uncomfortable for… him. It’s just that his britches are actually trying to kill him so Niall shouldn’t be surprised when he’s practicing the dance for the final number (which is what he will insist he was doing and not, in fact, jumping about like a maniac as Liam swears he saw) and the pants literally come apart at the seems. There’s a horrific ripping noise followed by Niall promptly landing on his ass in front of half the cast. Harry barks out a laugh and just steps over him on his way to the stage. 

Liam is a bit more sympathetic. “You’re an idiot.” Only a bit though. 

“They just fell apart!” 

Liam gives him a dubious look but Niall’s sticking to his story. “You better fix those before Louis sees.”

“Yea I know, why do you think I’m talking to you Mr. Production Manager?” 

Liam looks every bit the part with his clipboard in one hand and a tiny voice (that sounds suspiciously like Louis) blasting from his headset. He’s got bags under his eyes and his normally crisp button-down is wrinkled beyond belief. “You know I’m not in charge of costumes.” 

“Yes, but you’re in charge of everyone. And Emma’s gone home. So what am I supposed to do?” 

Liam heaves a sigh and flips through a couple of papers on his clipboard. “I think- yea, go see Zayn. Since we finished painting the sets he’s been helping Emma.”

“Zayn?”

“The new guy?” Liam quirks an eyebrow, “Covered in tattoos, all quiet and mysterious? You just about fell off the stage staring at him the other day, ringing any bells?” 

Niall blushes furiously and cries indignantly, “I wasn’t staring! I-I was er…you know…” Liam looks very much like he doesn’t know what Niall means so he quickly changes the subject. “So Zayn you said?” 

But Liam’s only half listening because the tiny voice in his headset (who is most certainly Louis) has gotten frantic and Niall can distinctly make out the word “EMERGENCY!” being screeched and then Liam’s waving his hand at Niall saying, “Just go to the costume room!”

Which is how Niall ends up meeting the love of his life wearing nothing but a woman’s blouse (“Nobody can tell the difference!” Emma insisted) and a pair of boxer briefs. 

“Errr… hi.” Zayn, who was previously steaming a dress, drops a mouth full of pins and gawks. Which is actually kind of adorable but Niall is standing there half dressed so he can’t fully appreciate it. He holds up his ripped pants and says, “My costume broke.” 

“Oh. Oh! Right, um give them here then.” Zayn lets out a low whistle as he inspects the garment. “Exactly how did this happen?” 

“Oh you know,” Niall shrugs trying to keep it casual, “I was just urm… dancing.” 

A small (incredibly sexy) smile plays at Zayn’s lips, which looks very much like he’s trying not to laugh, “I see. Well there’s not much I can do, Emma does all the sewing.” Niall groans, there is no way he’s going to get through this rehearsal without Louis noticing. It will most certainly end in a lecture about goofing off while in costume and honestly Niall’s getting a little sick of being called out in front of everyone, cast and crew. “I take it you need it today?” Niall nods, silently going through every scenario in which his ass is publicly reamed, and then Zayn thrusts something into his hand. “Here, I think they’re supposed to be Harry’s but nobody’s going to notice if he’s missing a pair.” 

The pants are almost identical to the ripped ones but incredibly soft, the complete opposite of the pair Niall ripped. Fuck Harry. Or maybe fuck Louis because that seems to be the key to getting buttery soft britches. “They’re a little long,” Niall says, slipping the pants on and trying not to blush under Zayn’s gaze. 

“I can pin them,” Zayn suggests, “You’d just have to watch the pins.” 

Niall weighs his options and decides he better not. “Knowing me I’d end up with pins in my ass and the last thing I need is to get blood on Harry’s pants.” Zayn laughs. Actually laughs, the skin around his eyes wrinkling in delight and everything. Niall could die. “Thanks.” 

“Not a problem.” Zayn says, still smiling. “But if anybody asks, you didn’t get those from me. That Louis fellow is kind of terrifying.” 

There are so many ways Niall could reply to that, most of which involve him offering to take Louis out for even daring to scare Zayn, but he settles on, “That he is.” 

***

Niall tries really hard to not let Zayn become a distraction. He’s fairly successful when Zayn’s in the costume room. He’s much less successful when he’s not. Currently Zayn’s standing in the wings measuring Perrie while Niall sneaks glances out of the corner of his eye and tries not to fall off the stage. Again. It’s a good thing he doesn’t have many lines. Mostly he’s just supposed to stand there and look engaged while Harry parades around the stage. He’s miserably failing at the looking engaged part but luckily Louis’s too transfixed by his boyfriend to notice. 

Perrie’s batting her eyelashes and giggling at something Zayn said which. No. This is unacceptable. Perrie is pretty and funny and talented. And has tits! There’s no way Niall can compete with her (certainly not if Zayn’s actually into tits). He isn’t even aware he’s moving toward them until Jade pinches the back of his arm and hisses, “The fuck you think you’re doing?” Niall glares at her and bites back the expletive on the tip of his tongue. She’s right though. He’s still on stage and Harry’s solo (honestly it’s an entire goddamn song) is nearly over, soon he’ll have to speak. 

Niall manages to make it through the rest of the scene with only one more hiss from Jade and a flick to the back of the head. When he finally makes it off stage he spends the next minute and a half flipping her off from the wings. She, infuriatingly enough, manages to return the gesture behind her back, all the while singing and smiling prettily. Louis’s none the wiser and Niall stomps his feet out of frustration at the sheer unfairness of it all. Of course it’s at this shining moment of maturity that Zayn chooses to arrive. “Rough day?” 

“Wha- oh fuck!” Niall jumps a bit, flailing an arm and just barely missing one of the burning hot stage lights with the back of his hand.

“Woah!” Zayn chuckles as he reaches out to steady Niall, whose heart is pretty much in his ass at this point. “Alright?”

“Yea just… uh yea. Hi.” He squeaks.

Zayn’s just smiles, “Hi.” He’s wearing glasses today and between that and the measuring tape wrapped around his neck like a scarf Niall’s having a hard time not melting into a puddle of want. “You looked good out there. Very convincing as a um… actually I’m not too sure what you’re supposed to be.” Zayn admits a bit sheepishly. “Haven’t had much time to watch, I’m mostly in the costume room. Suppose Louis will let me watch one of the dress rehearsals?” 

Niall’s immediate response is to give him whatever he wants, “Totally!” But then he thinks about what Louis would actually say if he saw Zayn sitting in the audience instead of helping with quick changes back stage and he cringes and adds, “Well maybe ask Liam. And don’t tell Louis.” 

Zayn laughs quietly, eyes trained on the stage. Perrie, Jade, and Harry are doing some kind of jig that looks utterly ridiculous (is that a part of the show??) and has Louis crying out in anguish “What is that?!” but Niall can’t look away from the boy beside him. 

He doesn’t realize he’s being totally creepy until Zayn catches him staring. He does a little double take before blushing and asking, “What? Do I have pen on my face or something?” 

“No, you’re perfect. I mean your face, it’s perfect- no wait! I- I um, you’re… fine.” He finally squeaks out, “No pen.” 

Before Zayn can tell Niall to “fuck off, you weirdo” (since those are the only words that could logically come out of his mouth) Harry pops up, curls slightly damp from the heat of the stage lights. “Hey! Apparently I need a new shirt.” He plucks at the flimsy white material on his chest, “Lou finds my nipples distracting.” 

Zayn should be applauded on his ability not to gag; Niall isn’t half the man he is. “You two are so fucking gross.” 

Harry doesn’t miss a beat. “So when you’re finished making googly eyes-“

“Nobody is making googly eyes!” 

“-I’ll be in the costume room.” Niall could kill him. Well you know if it wasn’t physically impossible to kill someone as adorable as Harry. 

“I should-“

“I’m so-“

They both stop, Niall chuckles a bit nervously, “You go.” 

Zayn smiles, “I was just going to say I should get going.” He gestures over his shoulder to where Harry’s just disappeared. “Costumes to fix.” 

“Right, okay. I’ll um, yea, well- see ya, I guess.” 

Zayn laughs and Niall can only hope it’s because he’s just thought of something funny and not because Niall is actually a babbling idiot. “Goodbye Niall.” 

***

“Move over.” 

“Fuck off Niall.” 

“Please?”

“No!” 

“Perrie will you-“

“I’m really sorry.” 

“But I can’t-“

“No Niall!” 

“Harry-“

“Don’t even.” 

“Fine.” Niall huffs. “You three are fucking cunts.” He knows they’re doing it on purpose because Perrie is giggling and Harry’s biting his lip to keep a grin back. (Doesn’t stop that damn dimple from appearing though.) “I hate you all.” 

“Aw cheer up Nialler.” 

“Why does he even have his shirt off?” 

“Who cares?” Jade asks, licking her lips absentmindedly. 

“Niall does.” Harry says just as Niall is squeaking out, “I do!” 

“What are you all- oh for goodness sake!” Liam cries, pushing past Harry when he sees exactly what they’re all staring at. “Emma! Can’t you do this in the costume room?” Niall misses her reply (which mostly consists of her blinking in Liam’s direction much to his annoyance), completely distracted by Zayn. Perrie and Jade are too busy trying to look like they weren’t staring and Niall’s finally got a clear view of tanned skin and black ink. He looks…really good. Mouthwateringly good. Niall may or may not be giving Zayn a good once (thrice) over when their eyes meet. Immediately his cheeks heat up, mortified at being caught, but Zayn is smiling. And… winking. Holy fuck Zayn is winking at him. 

“Well fuck me,” Jade sighs, “he is gay. Come on Pez, all this sexual tension is making me nauseous.” 

When her words finally process Niall finds himself choking on what he can only assume is his own spit, “Sexual what? Woah no! There’s no… it’s not like-” 

Harry snorts, “Give it up Niall, they’re gone.” 

There’s a BANG!, the ringing sound of plastic on metal making them jump. Niall turns in time to see Liam picking up his clipboard and glaring to where Emma and Zayn (where the fuck did that shirt come from? Take it away!) still stand, “Just go! I don’t have time for this.” 

Niall freezes as the love of his life walks by and casually says, “Hey Niall.”

It takes a minute before he finds his voice, croaking out “Hi!” at Zayn’s retreating figure. Harry laughs. Dick. 

“Smooth Niall, real smooth.” 

“What did he do now?” Liam asks, studying the list on his clipboard. His eyebrows are drawn together into a single bushy caterpillar and really Niall can’t help but be stupidly fond. 

“It’s more like what he didn’t do. Which is speak to Zayn.” 

Liam looks up in surprise, “Still?”

Niall’s face flushes, “I’ve spoken to him! It’s just…” Niall’s not actually sure what the problem is. It’s just… every time he sees Zayn his heart beats a bit faster and his breathing gets shallow. He’s always wiping sweaty palms on his pants and hoping nobody notices. Zayn’s so pretty and kind and Niall… he just doesn’t want to make an idiot of himself. (Which, if he thinks about it, he’s been doing quite a bit.) “I think I like him.” 

Harry laughs, “You think?” 

Liam is smiling at Niall like the feeling of stupidly fondness may be mutual. “You should ask him out.” 

“Yea,” Niall thinks. “Maybe you’re right.” 

***

The thing is when he tries to ask Zayn out he fails.

Miserably.

It’s hard to recall because Niall’s pretty sure he’s blocking out the memory. There's no need to relive what is probably the most mortifying moment of his life. That’s saying something since Niall once peed his pants at school. When he was 12. His brother likes to say it’s why they left Ireland and even though he’s joking there’s a small part of Niall that thanks the fucking lord for the small coincidence. 

The point is Niall wants to die.

“Zayn! Um, hi!” 

The way his face lights up really isn’t fair. “Hey Niall! What’s up?” 

_You can do this._ “Do you…” Niall takes a shaky breath, trying to steady himself before he starts again. “Do you want to get some food?” He forces out quickly. “Er, like go eat or something? You know, um dinner?” Zayn is just standing there, smiling kindly but a bit like he doesn’t understand. Niall swallows past the lump in his throat, “With me?”

“You want,” Zayn starts slowly, like he’s still not entirely sure what Niall wants, “to go get dinner?” Niall nods. “Sure.” Zayn says nonchalantly, like the single word hasn’t made Niall want to cry out happily. “Sounds good, are Harry and Liam coming? Oh, I’ll invite Perrie-“

“Invite me where?” 

And from there it snowballs. Niall can’t say no when Perrie is standing _right there!_ Then Perrie invites Jade who invites Emma who invites that little stage hand girl who flinches under Louis’s gaze and invites him as well. Before he knows it’s the entire cast and crew have been invited and dinner has been changed to ordering pizza because it’s hard to get 30 people organized enough to actually go out for dinner.

While they’re waiting for the food to arrive Zayn bumps shoulders with Niall and says, “This was a really good idea.” 

Niall ignores the sympathetic puppy eyes Liam sends him.

***

Its opening night before he knows it and Niall’s all but given up on Zayn. After the first soul-crushing misunderstanding Niall isn’t sure he can bear asking him out again. He may or may not have spent the week following that disaster complaining about his shit luck and being generally mopey. (He totally did.) But whatever. Sometimes life fucks you hard and there’s not much you can do but lie back and take it.

It’s after Louis’s preshow pep talk (“I love you guys, you’re all brilliant! But fuck this up and I’ll literally gut you.”) and before the overture that Zayn finds him. “Can we talk?” Niall nods, not trusting his voice because of course Zayn looks really good in his all black stage crew outfit. 

They try in vain to find a quiet spot and finally just end up in a corner, squished behind the quick-change curtain. They’re standing close enough that Niall can smell the faint scent of cigarettes and whatever cologne Zayn wears. It’s not helping the whole “don’t have a heart attack and fucking die” thing he’s working on. “So?” Niall drawls, aiming for casual but probably coming off a bit spastic. 

Zayn chuckles and Niall wishes, not for the first time, that he could just press his lips against Zayn’s and feel that laugh. “Something really weird happened to me yesterday.” 

“Oh?”

“Yea. I was minding my own business, just walking home from school when I was attacked.” He gives him a meaningful look. “By Harry.” 

“No,” Niall groans. “Please tell me this isn’t happening.” 

“I couldn’t make this up if I tried.”

“Fuck me,” Niall cringes. “Well Harry’s a big liar. Can’t trust a word he says! Awful that boy.” 

“Really? Hm. That’s a shame, I kind of liked what he said.” 

“You- what?” 

Zayn takes a step forward, his steady feet bumping into Niall’s quivering ones. Niall has to remind himself to breath. “I liked it.” 

Niall’s insides squirm as he asks, “Just out of curiosity, what exactly did he say?” 

“That you’ve been pining away for me since that first day where you almost fell off the stage.” Niall kind of wants to vomit and very much wants to punch Harry in the groin but there’s warm fingers snaking around his wrist, holding him in his place and preventing him from doin either thing. “He also says I’d have to be a right fucker to not want you. But the thing is,” Zayn’s voice lowers to a near whisper causing Niall to learn forward until he can clearly see each individual lash framing his eyes. “I do.”

Niall, articulate as ever, squeaks out, "Yea?" 

Zayn nods, “I’d like to kiss you now.” Niall’s frantic nod is cut short by the press of soft lips against his own chapped ones. He’d be a bit more concerned with the state of said lips (he’ll never hear the end of it if Louis, self-appointed chap-stick king, catches sight of them) if Zayn wasn’t sucking so sweetly on them, nibbling lightly and trying to lick into his mouth. It’s the perfect kiss until-

“Niall!” Liam is so near hysterics Niall kind of wants to giggle. Except then the blood vessel in Liam’s neck may actually burst and he’d be down a friend. “The stage- you! Your cue!” 

“Oh fuck!” In the midst of his big romantic ending Niall may have forgotten he’s supposed to be performing. Luckily, for all involved (but particularly Niall because he likes his guts and their internal placement) he makes it onto the stage without a second’s delay in the action. He loses Zayn after that, both preoccupied with their show obligations. They find each other after the show ends. Niall’s face is a smidgen raw from scrubbing off his stage makeup and his shirt sticks to his sweaty form but Zayn folds him into a hug anyways, kissing him on the cheek and whispering, “You did great.” And if Niall walks away with one hand intertwined with Zayn’s and the other clutching the flowers Zayn bought him, it’s nobody’s business but his.

**Author's Note:**

> In case anyone was wondering, I didn't have a specific musical in mind when I was writing this. So if this show seems incredibly bizarre it's because it doesn't actually have a plot.


End file.
